FAA Approves Commercial Use of UAV Over Land for First Time

11 June 2014
For the first time, the FAA is allowing a commercial UAV to be flown over land. BP and AeroVironment are using a Puma AE UAV to survey Alaskan oil fields in order to target maintenance activities. The first flight took place on Sunday. The Puma AE, which takes off after being thrown into the air, was originally designed to give troops on the ground a bird's-eye view of what's happening over unseen terrain. While this is a commercial venture, because the UAV has already been approved for military use, the news is not considered a big step forward for the variety of commercial purposes many industry officials want. The FAA did say that military use of the UAV did help it gain approval for commercial use. (Image Credit: Wikimedia)More Info > (USA Today)More Info > (Los Angeles Times)More Info > (Popular Science)